Watch the first footage from Nickelodeon's new series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years

Originally greenlit by Nickelodeon in June 2109, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years, the long-promised prequel series about the camp exploits of the yellow and porous star of Bikini Bottom is finally showing itself to the masses. During Sunday's NFL halftime presentation today, Nickelodeon premiered six-minutes of the CGI animated series premiere episode, “The Jellyfish Kid,” which features the beloved cast of characters in pint-sized versions.

SYFY WIRE has the first footage which focuses on a very excited SpongeBob ready to net some jellyfish under the guidance of camp counselor, Squidward. The only problem is mom's call keeps the avid jellyfisher from focusing on his task...

The new series will debut this year on Paramount+ (the new upcoming branding of CBS All Access) after COVID-19 changed the lineup and release dates for a host of Paramount-related titles, including the next SpongeBob theatrical movie, Sponge on the Run. The film was intended to come out globally in 2020 but it was instead given a Canadian theatrical release in August 2020 and a Netflix 2020 release in other countries. The U.S. will finally get to see the film, and the first narrative tip up to Kamp Koral, on Paramount+ in 2021. Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years will also exclusively debut in 2021 on Paramount+ and then air on Nickelodeon. 

Both projects re-invent the beloved 2D animation characters as 3D, CGI versions, which is a first for the characters created by Stephen Hillenburg. In 2020, SpongeBob's voice, actor Tom Kenny, told SYFY WIRE that before Hillenburg passed away from ALS in 2018, he did get to see tests of the 3D versions of his world and gave his blessing to go forward.

The entire original voice cast of SpongeBob is also on board for the Kamp Koral series from Kenny all the way down to a tiny Pearl Krabs (Lori Alan) as seen in the footage. Fans can expect the first season of episodes to center on how the gang, "spent their summer building underwater campfires, catching wild jellyfish, and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck at the craziest camp in the kelp forest, Kamp Koral."